34 



for the ears; that they will serve to attract and harbor rats and mice; 

 that the ears will not dry out, but will be liable to mold; that the husks 

 interfere w4th the shelling; that, while for feeding cattle and hogs the 

 husks will be advantageous as they will serve as a roughage, horses 

 will toss the ears in trjdng to remove the husks, and thus lose ear and 

 all. For selling purposes the corn needs to be husked clean in order 

 to command the best market price. 



The economic side of corn pickers may be profitably considered. 

 The corn picker should last about as long as the corn binder, or 8.17 

 years, and pick about the same number of acres per day as can be 

 harvested with a com binder, or 7.73 acres. The first cost of the 

 machine is, however, practically twice that of the com binder, or on 

 an average, $250. This makes the cost of machine, interest on the 

 investment, and repairs equal to 58 cents per acre. The cost of 

 driver and team is $3.55 per day, or 46 cents per acre. There is 

 required two wagons with teams to remove the corn from the machine 

 and deliver it into the crib, which, at $3 per day for each, costs SO. 77 

 per acre, or a total cost of $1.81 per acre for picking corn with a corn 

 picker. 



To obtain a comparison between the machine and the hand meth- 

 ods of picking corn, the following questions were asked numerous 

 farmers : 



What is the average yield of corn per acre in your vicinity? 



What does it cost per bushel, inrhxding board of men, to pick ccrn l)y liand from 

 the field? 



How many bushels of corn per day does the average man pick? 



From the 300 replies received to these questions it has been learned 

 that the average yield is 44 bushels per acre; that the average cost 

 per bushel for picking corn by hand is 3i cents, and that the average 

 man picks 59 bushels of com per day. This yield is considerably 

 above the average given in the crop reports of the United States 

 Department of Agriculture, but it represents the yield of corn in 

 States where pickers are used. Considering now that the number of 

 acres which the corn picker can cover per day is 7.73, this would, for 

 the average yield, be 341 bushels of corn per day. It would require 

 the time of 5.8 men to do the same work in the same time by hand as is 

 done with the machine, at a cost of $11.93 for labor, but in addition 

 to the wages of the men there is need of a team and wagon for every 

 two men who pick corn by hand to haul the com to the crib. These 

 teams are w^orth at the very least $1 each per day, or three teams for 

 the 7.73 acres would cost $3. The total cost for pickmg the same 

 number of acres of corn by hand as can be picked with a com picker, 

 per day, would be $14.93, or $1.93 per acre, as compared with $1.81 

 per acre for machine picking. \Miile the saving effected with the 

 corn picker is not large, the use of a machine makes the farmer more 



